I’m sure you’ve heard enough about going out and voting, so I’ll just tell you about my experience on the bus yesterday morning.  It was packed, and I jostled my way to a standing position toward the middle.  There were a couple more Caucasian people than usual, but still, 90% of the passengers were African American (let’s hear it for living in a place with more diversity than Northern CA!).  The talk around me turned to the election, and you can probably deduce by my location in a “liberal elite” East Coast city who everyone on the bus is going to vote for today.

One of the men near me started singing a spiritual/gospel song that I’ve heard before (no idea what it really is, though), but instead of the actual lyrics, he started singing “free at last.”  A few other people joined in, but what amazed me is that they started singing lines from the entire “I Have a Dream” speech – I consider myself pretty progressive, but I only know highlights of the speech.  This group was singing entire paragraphs – and they were good!  I couldn’t believe how a group of strangers pulled together and freestyled a MLK speech to a gospel tune swaying on a city bus on a Monday morning.  I’m bummed I’m not riding the bus today (right now I’m on a train to DC for a conference) – I bet the excitement will be even more palpable today.